Lakeshoreclick.com is principally about photography. While I will be adding sections on my other passions, photography will remain the magnum opus of this site.
My study of photography began when I was 8, give or take. My parents handed me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, and off I went. I was so excited that I wrecked the entire first roll of film - after each picture, I took the back off the camera hoping to see how it turned out. I was entirely dismayed that the image wasn't showing up immediately! After that first failure and some gentle corrective instruction from Dad, I was quickly taking pictures of my dog, Midnight, our house and farm, and anything else I liked. I took so many pictures, my parents had to ration the amount of film I used.
A few years later, my father gave me his old Canonflex SLR 35mm camera for Christmas. The Canonflex was a good, but quirky, camera. (It went head to head with the Nikon F and lost.) It came with a 50mm f/1.8 and an off-brand 200mm telephoto that required screw thread adapter collar to fit the Canonflex. The 50mm had an auto diaphragm, but the 200 did not. Both lenses focused very slow. In fact, the 200mm focus was so slow and stiff it was unusable for action - sometimes it would even come off the camera! Still, I was thrilled. The geek in me was obsessed with all the settings on the Canonflex. I focused more on the technical side of photography during this time than composition and creativity, and my work showed just that. While I kept many of my pictures from the Kodak Brownie days, I have less than 20 slides from the Canonflex days.
Starting in junior high, I took a several year hiatus from photography as I found a new love, computers. In my sophomore year I met Mr. Szabo, an avid (and ridiculously talented) photographer whose passion quickly rejuvenated my photographer DNA. He was my English teacher and football coach, and he was almost as goofy as I was. He had this crazy idea of raising more than $10,000 (in a hick town of 525 people) to build a darkroom and start a photography program. He did it. I have yet to see the equal of the public school photography program he created. While my technical skills were strong, my composition and creative vision needed work. Jim pushed my creative side and helped shape the vision I have today. Jim was big into Nikon, and he let me use his personal F3HP with motor drive and 300mm f/4 for an assignment or two. From that point on, I have remained a card carrying member of the Nikon religion. I have also remained thankful to Jim for more than I care to write here.
Off to college, and my photography came to a halt. I had no equipment (the last few years I had used either my school's or Jim's equipment), no money, and least of all time! Five years and a change of majors later, I graduated with my degree in mathematics. I took the additional classes I needed and also earned my 6-12 teaching certificate. I ended up landing a teaching job in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. They asked me if I would be willing to take over the school's yearbook program as well. I did this with some reservation, but I figured it was in my best interest to accept.
The yearbook program had no useful camera equipment to speak of, and no money to purchase any, so I took out a personal loan from the bank and bought a couple of cameras and lenses for us to use. I also started to shoot some weddings and senior portraits for the extra cash, not to mention more nature slides than I could afford at the time. I was thrust firmly back into photography. I could write whole volumes on my teaching experiences, especially yearbook advising! Long story short, it changed me forever. I owe a lot to the teachers I have had in my life, but I owe even more to those I taught.
My photographic pursuits shifted as my career changed directions. I shot here and there, but nothing too serious. I had built up a pretty good set of Nikon lenses and I really wanted to move to a digital back that took advantage of the investment. I looked at a Fuji FinePix back, but just couldn't get hooked on the body. The D1/D2 Nikons where very cool, but cost more than my first car. I almost bought a D70, but it didn't work with all of my equipment. Then Nikon released the D200 - it was exactly the camera I was looking for. Being able to control the whole photographic process from image to print has me shooting again like crazy. All I needed was a way to share my work.
And so we reach June 16th, 2006, the birth of lakeshoreclick.com. My only short term goal at this point is to refine my work, sharing it and my passions with those that are interested... all while feeding the ego that lives in most photogs. If I can grow this little project into a part time retirement endeavor, so much the better. If it were to ever grow into an immensely profitable endeavor, well I guess that would be ok too!
Dan
